Statement to the Alternative Public Hearing
against the Indonesia-Timor-Leste Truth and Friendship Commission (TFC)

By Charles Scheiner, International Federation for East Timor (IFET)

Dili, September 29, 2007

Thank you. I appreciate your invitation
to participate in
this important event, which is helping people in Indonesia,
Timor-Leste and around the world better understand what was
perpetrated in Timor-Leste in 1999. It is an essential step in the
ongoing campaign to seek justice and accountability for crimes
committed against the people of Timor-Leste and all humanity.

Although I have spent much time in Timor-Leste in recent years
working with La’o
Hamutuk, I was here in August and September 1999 as a
coordinator of the International Federation for East Timor Observer
Project. IFET is an international solidarity coalition which
includes ETAN from the USA, TAPOL from England, and other groups
from Australia, Portugal, Japan, the Philippines and around the
world who continue to support Timor-Leste’s struggle for justice and
genuine self-determination.

In July 2006, IFET joined with the Timor-Leste National Alliance
for an International Tribunal and the Australian Coalition for
Transitional Justice in East Timor in
urging the
United Nations and the international community to “show the
political, financial and legal commitment to resolve” issues of
justice and accountability for crimes during the Indonesian
occupation. Given Timor-Leste's position vis-à-vis the more powerful
Indonesia, an international effort is required if there is to be
justice.

We noted that “Numerous reports from independent bodies,
including the UN’s own
Commission
of Experts, have concluded that … justice for war crimes and
crimes against humanity committed between 1975 and 1999 has been
poorly served” by the Serious Crimes process and Indonesia’s Ad Hoc
Human Rights Court.

In May this year, IFET joined more than 30 groups from
Timor-Leste and all over the world in
urging the
presidents of Indonesia and Timor-Leste to close the TFC. That
letter recommends reconstituting the Special Panels for Serious
Crimes in Dili with authority to arrest and try perpetrators of
serious crimes committed during the Indonesian occupation,
regardless of where they currently reside. “If that is not possible,
we will continue to call for the establishment of an international
criminal tribunal.”

The letter explains that failing to prosecute the perpetrators
restricts “the growth of democracy and respect for the rule of law
in both Indonesia and Timor-Leste” and also undermines the rule of
law and respect for human rights internationally.

Unfortunately, the so-called “Truth and Friendship Commission” is
unable to find the truth or to increase friendship between the
peoples of Timor-Leste and Indonesia. Rather, it has propagated lies
and exacerbated tensions between people and officials in both
countries.

IFET hopes that the members of the Truth and Friendship
Commission will have the integrity to acknowledge that their effort
has failed. If their report names the high-level people who have
been charged or credibly alleged to have perpetrated serious crimes
and who have refused to testify voluntarily, openly and honestly
before the TFC, it might emerge from ridicule. Although the TFC’s
Terms of Reference do not allow it to recommend prosecutions, it
could conclude, as the CAVR, the UN and others have, that existing
efforts, including the TFC, have been unable to satisfy the need of
people of Timor-Leste and Indonesia to transcend the horrible events
of 1999 and the preceding 24 years, and that new mechanisms are
necessary to more effectively identify what happened and who is
responsible.

The struggle against impunity can take years, but in time it
often succeeds. Just this month, top-level perpetrators have been
arrested in Peru and Cambodia. Ex-President Alberto Fujimori and
Khmer Rouge Brother Number Two Nuon Chea are now in prison awaiting
trial after avoiding accountability for decades.

In the spirit of continuing humanity’s common struggle to end
impunity for crimes against humanity, I would like to share with you
testimony IFET presented
to the United
Nations Human Rights Commission and
General Assembly
in September and October 1999. It was already well-known that
Indonesian political and military leaders were the architects of
most of the crimes against humanity committed in Timor-Leste over
the previous ten months and 24 years. IFET, like most people in
Timor-Leste and many in Indonesia, continues to campaign to hold
these perpetrators accountable through an international tribunal,
and we offer this information to advance truth, justice and peace

Testimony
of the International Federation for East Timor to
The UN Human Rights Commission, Geneva, September 24, 1999 & the
Fourth Committee of the UN General Assembly, New York, October 6,
1999 [excerpts]

I am speaking on behalf of the
International
Federation for East Timor. IFET was formed in 1991, and includes
more than 30 NGOs supporting self-determination and human rights for
Timor-Leste, based in more than twenty countries.

IFET organized the largest international observer mission for the
Timor-Leste consultation. Our UNAMET-accredited nonpartisan
Observer Project
brought volunteers from 20 countries to Timor-Leste, where we
observed the process from before voter registration through the
announcement of the results and beyond. On voting day, we had 125
people in every district of Timor-Leste, observing balloting at 135
of the 200 polling centers.

We planned to stay in Timor-Leste during the transition period,
but rapidly escalating violence forced the last 60 of our volunteers
to be evacuated by the Royal Australian Air Force on September 6 and
7.

We left Timor-Leste for safety, but with tremendous sadness. The
Timorese people have no Australia to run to, no place to hide from
militia and military terror. As we escaped Timor-Leste, both IFET-OP
and the people we left behind kept thinking of 1975, when the
international community abandoned Timor-Leste, allowing the
Indonesian military to invade and kill 200,000 people with impunity
while the nations of the world closed their eyes.

We are grateful for the attention paid to Timor-Leste by the
United Nations in 1999, especially over the past few weeks. It has
been a long time coming.

Nevertheless, IFET continues to be troubled by a number of
developments, most of which stem from three fundamental errors by
the United Nations:

Failing to listen to the Timor-Leste people, whose knowledge
and observations, if heeded would have averted the recent
disaster.

Willingness to give the Indonesian government veto power on
every step of the process, and to defer to Indonesian
“sovereignty” over people they have murdered for 24 years.

Acceptance of the Indonesian military and police as
legitimate in Timor-Leste, often swallowing the lie that they
are a neutral force for peace and security.

Crying in the wilderness

We are compelled to point out that the massive bloodshed and
displacement inflicted since the vote was expected and avoidable.

“We have been concerned by recent statements by your office
and by the Indonesian government that disarmament of the
paramilitaries and withdrawal of Indonesian soldiers from East
Timor are not seen as prerequisites to the ballot consultation”
… A UN-conducted East Timorese vote in the current atmosphere of
terror would be a mockery of everything the United Nations
stands for.”

“As soon as the 5 May accord is signed, the United Nations
must assume responsibility for creating and preserving law and
order in East Timor, and for protecting public safety. The
Indonesian military has been there illegally for 23 years, and
their occupation has taken more than 200,000 East Timorese
lives. … It will be impossible for the United Nations to conduct
a meaningful assessment of East Timorese public opinion if those
forces – one party to the conflict -- are controlling the
situation on the ground.”

Our Observers began arriving in Timor-Leste in June. From the
very beginning, we underlined the pervasive fear of a military and
militia-instigated bloodbath if the vote went for independence. On
July 23, as the registration period proceeded,
we pointed out
that “an atmosphere of intimidation and violence … calls into
question the commitment of the Indonesian authorities to provide the
security needed to ensure a free and fair process…”

As no action was taken to address this concern, it was a
recurring theme in our reports. On August 17, as the campaign period
began, we described

“continuing activities of TNI-supported paramilitary groups
in the form of violence and intimidation directed against
independence supporters in many areas of East Timor. In
addition, warnings by government officials and pro-autonomy
spokespersons of large-scale violence if the East Timorese
people reject the autonomy option in the August 30 vote, along
with widespread reports of arms shipments entering the
territory, are cause for worry.”

“pervasive fears within the East Timorese population that the
Indonesian military-backed militias will launch a wave of terror
around, or shortly after, the time of the ballot. We feel that
fears of a bloodbath are based on a variety of credible factors.
We believe that the international community, as represented by
the United Nations, has a duty to ensure that these fears do not
come to fruition.”

We called for

“a much larger international security presence, preferably
armed, to maintain security following the vote… Many East
Timorese fear that the Indonesian military and its paramilitary
groups will engage in widespread terror at the time of
announcement of the ballot result, especially if the vote
rejects the autonomy option.”

Like some awful Greek tragedy, the situation in Timor-Leste moved
seemingly inevitably toward catastrophe, despite the cries of many
Timor-Leste people and IFET-OP. Although the August 30 vote stands
as a monument to the dedication of UNAMET personnel and the
incredible courage of the Timor-Leste people, the disaster was both
predictable and preventable.

On September 2, IFET-OP
assessed the
Consultation Process, finding that the voting day itself was
administered in a free and fair manner. However, we were concerned
that the inadequate international response to escalating militia
activities

“has taken great risks with the lives of the East Timorese
people. That massive bloodshed has not yet occurred does not
mean that security measures are adequate. It is clear that the
East Timorese people live in a state in which they fear for
their lives.”

Two days later, the result was announced, and the violence
exploded. Within three days after that, virtually all
internationals, including our observers, fled the territory. The
Timor-Leste people were left to be massacred, driven into the
mountains, or kidnapped and held hostage in Indonesia.

Evidence

Throughout our time in East Timor, IFET-OP observers accumulated
evidence of crimes by the pro-integration militia, by the police,
and by the Indonesian military. It was clear that these were three
uniforms for the same force, and that the terror they inflicted on
the civilian population was the intentional result of a coordinated,
well-planned campaign. Perhaps the most vivid evidence comes from
conversations between the Kopassus special forces and the Ablai
militia who were active in Same, East Timor. Our team there had
access to tapes of unencoded radio transmissions in August and
September, in which the Kopassus directed the militia as subordinate
troops within a unified command structure. IFET-OP observers
listened on September 1 as Kopassus ordered Ablai to stop and kill
them: “Those white people …should be put in the river.” The Ablai
commander agreed “If they want to leave, pull them out, kill them
and put them in the river.” The military and the militia discussed
where the militia should block the roads, and whom they should stop,
with Kopassus concluding “Nobody will leave Same.”

On August 27, we heard conversations where Kopassus directed the
militia when and where to pick up rifles, suggesting that it be done
on August 30 because UNAMET would be busy then. The military officer
coordinated between the militia groups Ablai and Mahidi. Other
overhead conversations revealed military involvement in campaigning,
and the directive for militias to keep their radios on all night,
waiting for a military order to initiate mayhem.

The current situation

Just two weeks ago [on September 15, 1999], the
U.N.
Security Council “underline(d) the Government of Indonesia’s
continuing responsibility … to maintain peace and security in East
Timor.” The High Commissioner for Human Rights accepts the pretense
that only “elements of the security forces were involved” in
violence “targeted against those who supported independence.” But
those elements include the entire command structure of TNI, and
those who support independence include at least 78.5% of the
population.

The international community waits for investigators and
rapporteurs, resisted by Indonesia, before acknowledging what common
sense and every Timor-Leste person knows – that the Indonesian
military carried out a pre-planned, well-coordinated scorched-earth
policy to destroy Timor-Leste, murder its leadership, and dislocate
the majority of its population. Although they were unable to conquer
the Timor-Leste spirit in a quarter-century, TNI kidnapped a
quarter-million people and moved them to another country in one
week.

If truth be told, the UN Human Rights Commission would determine
that what is happening in East Timor is a reprise of what happened
in the 1970’s – a systematic, planned and massive campaign by the
Indonesian government and military from the highest levels to
exterminate and terrorize the East Timorese population.

Recommendations

The International Federation for East Timor made six
recommendations to the UN, two of which are repeated here:

The full force of United Nations investigatory and
prosecutory powers should be mustered against all responsible
for crimes against the people of Timor-Leste. Those at the top
of the chain of command, as well as others who abetted their
crimes, must not escape with impunity. United Nations
investigators should be granted the resources, expertise and
access needed to hold all responsible fully accountable, and to
investigate crimes as far up the chain of command as necessary.

Members of the international community, especially
governments on the Security Council, should be held responsible
for ignoring warnings that the Indonesian military planned
massive atrocities after a pro-independence vote. In addition to
developing accountability for complicity by inaction, such
crimes must never happen again anywhere in the world. One
outcome could be reparations paid to the people of Timor-Leste
not only by the government of Indonesia, but by all nations who
stood by as the wheels of destruction continued to turn.